The great train robbery

Caught slipping

The original plan was for the gang to stay at the farmhouse for up to two weeks. However, a police broadcast announcing their escapade and revelations that every newspaper in the land was reporting the story, meant that they had to move fast.Before the gang left the farmhouse in new transport, an unknown accomplice was paid to clean up the farmhouse of all evidence.Two major police figures undertook investigations into the robbery. Detective Chief Superintendent Tommy Butler, a Scotland Yard legend and Jack Slipper, a detective with the moniker ‘Slipper of the Yard’.The gang's hideout was soon discovered when a local reported a ‘suspicious vehicle’. Unfortunately for the gang, the man they had hired to clean the farmhouse of any trace of incriminating evidence, had taken their money but left behind a wealth of clues for the police to find.

Within a day of the farm being processed for evidence, the first gang member, Roger Cordrey, was arrested and charged with taking part in the robbery. Ronnie Biggs panicked when a suitcase containing £100,000.00 was recovered from woodlands just a few miles from his own house.A week later Charlie Wilson was arrested in London. The police also announced that they were looking for Bruce Reynolds, Jimmy White, Roy James and Buster Edwards to assist them with their enquiries.Jack Slipper visited Biggs’ residence on two occasions. A month later, Biggs was taken into custody and transported to Scotland Yard for questioning. Later he found himself at Bedford prison with fellow gang members Charlie Wilson, Tommy Wisbey, Jim Hussey and Bob Welch.It transpired that the reason Biggs and the men had been arrested was because their fingerprints were lifted off items such as a ketchup bottle, beer bottles and several Monopoly game pieces.By November, all five of the gang were transferred to Aylesbury prison in Buckinghamshire and kept together in a secure hospital wing, which had been specially cleared to house them. On one occasion they tried to escape by bribing a guard but the plan was botched.